shel & sorcery

home of cromulent projects reblogs will live over on @portablecity learn more at portablecity.net

[shelandsorcery]

what's up with shel?

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🤘🎸🎨🔮✨🎲

Hi! A quick rundown of what I do and where to find me!

Want to see my work?

Read my blog, see my portfolio, get the whole story: https://www.portablecity.net/

Archives for all the fiction and comics that I can share online: https://stories.portablecity.net/

Want to buy my stuff?

My hub store: https://www.sorcererscatalogue.shop/

PDFs and games and more: https://sorcererscatalogue.itch.io/

Art prints: https://www.inprnt.com/profile/portablecity/

Want to stay in touch?

Get emails whenever something big goes down in my world (infrequent): http://www.eepurl.com/dGKMRv

Catch my reblogs and shenaniganry: https://portablecity.tumblr.com/

Photos and photo thoughts: https://shelephotolens.tumblr.com/

Begrudging social media presence: https://bsky.app/profile/portablecity.bsky.social

please say hi if we cross paths out there on the wider web!

[shelephotolens]

i made a photo zine?! turns out you can just do that, just like any other zine! I've got them locally in Toronto and I'll get PDFs up in my itch next week!

[shelandsorcery]

Toronto friends, I've done a restock at the Danforth Arts Market and that includes this photo zine!

[shelandsorcery]

Finally got my stock updated with my #pleinairpril paintings over at the Danforth Arts Market! I have prints AND original paintings for sale, alongside two new zines and some fresh Wizard Tower Playmap Blankest!

[shelephotolens]

i made a photo zine?! turns out you can just do that, just like any other zine! I've got them locally in Toronto and I'll get PDFs up in my itch next week!

[shelandsorcery]

plein airpril 2026 - complete!

This year I decided to do Warrior Painters' Plein Airpril again, but from photos, since Toronto's April weather is rarely good, and I have been so busy photographing things this past year that I'm drowning in my own reference!

And I did it! I did 30 paintings this April, on wood panels ranging from slightly smaller than 5" square up to 7.5 x 9"!

The paintings:

I wrote a bunch more about the experience on my blog here but I also heard a few folks asking to take these paintings home in some way, so I set up a collection on INPRNT as well so you can grab a fine art print from wherever you are in the world!

Thanks so much for coming along on this ride with me, tumblr!

You can see my process posts here for posterity: part 1 - part 2 - part 3

[shelandsorcery]

wanna see something satisfying?

i kept all my panels hanging on my wall all month so i could watch them fill up:

how it started:

how it went:

where we got to:

over on bsky, @crudely-drawn-ben called it the best advent calendar, and i think that's a great way to describe how exactly it motivated me to keep painting all month!

[shelandsorcery]

hey hey did you know that no one will stop you from collecting all your Toronto paintings into a zine?

I've got these locally here in Toronto, and I'll get the PDF up on my itch next week!

[shelandsorcery]

plein airpril 2026 - complete!

This year I decided to do Warrior Painters' Plein Airpril again, but from photos, since Toronto's April weather is rarely good, and I have been so busy photographing things this past year that I'm drowning in my own reference!

And I did it! I did 30 paintings this April, on wood panels ranging from slightly smaller than 5" square up to 7.5 x 9"!

The paintings:

I wrote a bunch more about the experience on my blog here but I also heard a few folks asking to take these paintings home in some way, so I set up a collection on INPRNT as well so you can grab a fine art print from wherever you are in the world!

Thanks so much for coming along on this ride with me, tumblr!

You can see my process posts here for posterity: part 1 - part 2 - part 3

[shelandsorcery]

wanna see something satisfying?

i kept all my panels hanging on my wall all month so i could watch them fill up:

how it started:

how it went:

where we got to:

over on bsky, @crudely-drawn-ben called it the best advent calendar, and i think that's a great way to describe how exactly it motivated me to keep painting all month!

[shelandsorcery]

if you're in Toronto, I'm going to have a selection of these paintings as well as prints and a zine at this art show this weekend! come say hi!

[shelandsorcery]

Toronto! Art show alert!

Hey Toronto folks, did you know I joined an art collective? And we're having a group show? May 30/31st, 12-5 both days, in the Withrow Park Clubhouse near Chester Station!

I'll have my Plein Airpril originals and other treats and goodies, and I hope to see you there!

[shelandsorcery]

Toronto! Art show alert!

Hey Toronto folks, did you know I joined an art collective? And we're having a group show? May 30/31st, 12-5 both days, in the Withrow Park Clubhouse near Chester Station!

I'll have my Plein Airpril originals and other treats and goodies, and I hope to see you there!

[shelandsorcery]

sketchbook oil pastel film still studies

[shelephotolens]

went to wales

saw some things I'll never forget

[shelandsorcery]

hello from scenic Wales 🌈✨

[shelandsorcery]

painting in Wales is a dream come true!

[shelandsorcery]

Windy and a little rushed today but i still squeezed in a painting!

[shelandsorcery]

did some sketches in the park before the concert yesterday

[shelandsorcery]

new watercolour, paints whole listening to so much Opeth.

[shelandsorcery]

starting the next one!

i did some Photoshop processing on this reference image to help me push the colours using the gouache palette i have.

For these, I've been doing an underpainting of big colour washes, and in gouache that can be dangerous - water will lift paint back up off the page and it could contaminate the layers I'll put on top, which is the opposite of the stark contrast I'm hoping to achieve. So after my underpainting had dried completely, I put on a thin wash of transparent watercolour ground, and I'm delighted to say it's working like magic! No lifting or contaminating or colours from the underpainting into the actual painting 🤘🤘

[shelandsorcery]

progress!

[shelandsorcery]

further progress!

[shelandsorcery]

so close to done! but not quite there yet.

[shelandsorcery]

The finished piece! 12 x 16", gouache and transparent watercolour ground.

Referencing this photo of a Toronto hot dog stand, by Filip Mroz on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/oVMjj1ub5kw

[shelandsorcery]

hello from scenic Wales 🌈✨

[shelandsorcery]

painting in Wales is a dream come true!

[shelandsorcery]

Windy and a little rushed today but i still squeezed in a painting!

[shelandsorcery]

hello from scenic Wales 🌈✨

[shelandsorcery]

painting in Wales is a dream come true!

[shelandsorcery]

Summon the strength of millenniums past

Forged by the fire and flame

I am the weapon of empires vast

Immortal is more than a name

12 x 16" mixed media on 300gsm paper; pencil, watercolour, pencil crayon (aka coloured pencil), and workable fixative to seal and rework and seal again.

[shelandsorcery]

hello from scenic Wales 🌈✨